Shaanan Cohney's Blog

Chassidic Philosophers

Posted on 30th September 2012

I have decided to use this space not only to post updates on what I’ve been doing but also to post the odd article or two. In this case, an article on Chassidic Jews rebelling against their communities to study philosophy in secret: Spinoza in Shtreimels

To use the provided blurb:

This past Sunday, philosophy professor Carlos Fraenkel wrote in the New York Times that “the cultural relativism that often underlies Western multicultural agendas [is] a much greater obstacle to a culture of debate than religion.” Today, in an exclusive preview from the Fall issue of the Jewish Review of Books, Fraenkel relates how his theory fared among a group of Hasidim, who gathered secretly to study secular philosophy—an activity their community views as “much worse than having an extramarital affair or going to a prostitute.”